Sucré - Madeira Barrel-Aged
The Bruery

Sucré - Madeira Barrel-AgedSucré - Madeira Barrel-Aged
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From:
The Bruery
 
California, United States
Style:
Old Ale
ABV:
14.7%
Score:
91
Avg:
4.07 | pDev: 7.62%
Reviews:
10
Ratings:
138
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Apr 24, 2020
Added:
Apr 27, 2014
Wants:
  3
Gots:
  35
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

4.01/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Man these anniversary beers are total legend status, but where they sometimes fall from grace is when they have some questionable barrel variants. This one had me suspicious, because Madeira wine is oxidized, which is generally a quality we don't go for in most beers, but they say it makes the wines last even longer, so who knows what the end product will be here.

Pours the usual ruddy reddish brown leaning harder on the brown. Impressive 1" cream colored head with powerful retention characteristics. Aroma was burnt brown sugar caramel and red wine oak. Boozy, sure.

Taste, not bad, still has the trademark boozy cracker jack caramel and toffee aspect running through it dominantly. The red wine, dark fruit and brandy notes run behind them. Slightly less sweet than other versions, trades that burnt brown sugar, or like 80% of it for more of the vinous dark fruit and leather feels. Its still really good, albeit still lower than most barrel treatments over the years.
Apr 24, 2020
 
Rated: 4.24 by Beer21 from Florida

Nov 14, 2019
 
Rated: 3.83 by Ristaccia from Nebraska

May 11, 2019
Photo of superspak
Reviewed by superspak from North Carolina

4.43/5  rDev +8.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
750 ml bottle into snifter, bottled on 3/6/2014. Pours hazy very dark reddish brown color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky light khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apricot, red apple, red grape/wine, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, molasses, nuttiness, toasted oak, and brown bread; with lighter notes of vanilla, licorice, smoke, cocoa, leather, tobacco, herbal, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, and wine barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of huge raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apricot, red apple, red grape/wine, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, molasses, nuttiness, toasted oak, and brown bread; with lighter notes of vanilla, licorice, smoke, cocoa, leather, tobacco, herbal, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Very mild herbal bitterness and wine/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apricot, red apple, red grape/wine, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, molasses, nuttiness, toasted oak, brown bread, vanilla, licorice, smoke, cocoa, leather, tobacco, herbal, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, and wine barrel flavors; with a solid malt/bitterness and wine/oak tannin spiciness balance; with zero cloying flavors after the finish. Slightly increasing dryness from lingering bitterness and wine/oak spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/velvety, and slightly slick/sticky/tannic mouthfeel that is insane. Minimal warming alcohol for 14.7%, with zero barrel booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this is an insane barrel aged old ale! All around amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, and wine barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV, with the minimally bitter/tannic/drying finish. Perfectly balanced rich malts, fruity yeast complexity, and wine barrel integration. Wine flavors complement the yeast character perfectly as expected. A highly amazing offering, and spot on style example as expected of the base beer. All variations have been consistently amazing, but this was a better than most on the mouthfeel.
Sep 29, 2018
 
Rated: 4.51 by Furlinator from California

Jun 16, 2017
 
Rated: 4.2 by elemenohpee1 from California

Jun 12, 2017
 
Rated: 4.42 by mbw314 from California

Apr 15, 2017
 
Rated: 4.2 by 2GOOFY from California

Dec 18, 2016
Photo of cavedave
Reviewed by cavedave from New York

4.36/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25
Pours with expected opacity, carrying a quick to reduce half inch of beige foam. It's a deep brown beer with a maroon cast, and has a thick and menacing look to it. In a good way.

Date, fig, raisin, plum, molasses and wine laden breadiness, warm deep alcohol, with an elusive blended tart yeastiness that is there if you search it and really adds an alluring complexity to this aroma. Hard to stop sniffing this beer, its full strength bouquet is intoxicating and alluring. Sweet.

Much more wine forward than anticipated, in fact it dominates the sip. But this beer is so big it has room for all flavors, while hiding none. During the course of the beer's warming all of the flavors in the aroma combine and shine, and it is a wonderful thing to have this morphing mix of strong flavors. Regular Sucre is a sweeter beer than this one, the wine flavors go far to making it pleasingly sweet and no more than that. Alcohol spice adds immeasurably to the wine notes, and goes a long way to drying the end of sip, which otherwise might be overly sweet.

Thick, low carb., highly viscous, and a perfect frame for an over the top mix of strong flavors. It finishes clean and doesn't build.

What a beer. The only distraction is an occasional overpowering of the sip by the wine taste, but it is such a great flavor it is hard to ding it for that. Highly recommended.
Dec 11, 2016
 
Rated: 4.5 by Josholson666 from Minnesota

Nov 28, 2016
 
Rated: 3.8 by westcoastbeerlvr from California

Nov 20, 2016
 
Rated: 4.46 by TboneRN from Minnesota

Nov 06, 2016
Photo of darktronica
Reviewed by darktronica from Indiana

4.33/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Bottled March 2014, enjoyed October 2016. I would not rate this as the best of the Sucre variants, but it may be the most distinctive and transformative expression of the barrel. The madeira takes this in a very different direction, with a considerable amount of vinous sweetness that never enters tart or sour territory; there are some light tannic notes but nothing overpowering. The base beer takes the back seat, making this an exquisitely interesting experiment. Not a phenomenal beer, but worth seeking out and trying alongside the standard Sucre release to broaden horizons about what barrels can do. In that respect, this is truly impressive.
Oct 15, 2016
Photo of KevSal
Reviewed by KevSal from California

4.38/5  rDev +7.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
750 into a bruery tulip
at one point I had all the variations except 1. this is all I have left. per recommendation of my buddy who had all of them side by side this was his favorite.
looks great, like all their other anny beers, light brown like syrup
smell on this one is fantastic, brown sugar, wine notes barrel smokiness.
taste is very interesting, slightly abrasive barrel over the sweet base which is rather nice. tid bit of tart bite that I imagine is coming from the Madeira barrels, I've had anny enough know to know its profile quite well. still very sweet and chewy.
mouthfeel is definity thick, wine barrels help to keep it from getting overly sweet.
overall Im really enjoying this one. I do wish I could have made the horizontal of this one, but I'm happy just the same to have this one varition. my memory of brandy and bourbon bois however was much better than this beer.
Aug 29, 2016
 
Rated: 4 by BeerOps from Illinois

Jun 12, 2016
 
Rated: 4 by drummermattie02 from Texas

May 17, 2016
 
Rated: 3.83 by imperialking from Illinois

Mar 25, 2016
 
Rated: 4.25 by shoegueuze from California

Mar 21, 2016
Photo of SHODriver
Reviewed by SHODriver from North Carolina

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
A: poured into a snifter to deep brown topped by a finger of dense head that fades quickly to a small collar around the edge of the glass leaving minimal lacing
S: The wine barrel is pretty forward on the nose with some dark fruits and toffee coming through on the back end
T: taste is toffee and dark fruits with the madeira barrel bringing in some nice vinous notes to the beer. Swallow is wine with some lingering toffee and dark fruits and red berries. Slight tannic oak on the back as well.
M: This beer is full in the mouth with soft carbonation and a semi-dry finish. Not oily, thick or chewy though but plenty of body
O: There's only one word to describe how good this beer is and that word is incredible. The complexity and flavors are just outstanding. This is easily one of the best beer's I've ever had. The wine hides the booze pretty well even though this beer is 14.7% ABV.
Feb 06, 2016
 
Rated: 4.19 by IckyT2012 from Florida

Jan 01, 2016
Sucré - Madeira Barrel-Aged from The Bruery
Beer rating: 91 out of 100 with 138 ratings